The Professional Services Marketing Group has ratified a decision to launch a major research study on measuring the effectiveness of business development (BD). Co-chair Chris Hinze said the board was in “universal agreement” on designing a study for professional services firms to measure the return on investment in BD. Mark King, co-chair and marketing director at Lewis Silkin, said the problem was “one of the most important issues” facing professional services marketing today. He added: “There are large sums of money involved and it’s a competitive market. Partners want to know that if you do this, you get that.”